Conservation Project Support Grant Announcement - April 2008

Arizona  |  California  |  Colorado  |  Connecticut  |  Georgia  |  Hawaii  |  Illinois  |  Maine 

Maryland  |  Massachusetts  |  Michigan  |  Missouri  |  New York  |  North Carolina 

Ohio  |  Pennsylvania  |  Rhode Island  |  Vermont  |  Wisconsin 

Arizona

Museum of Northern Arizona - Flagstaff, AZ
Award Amount: $107,311

Contact: Ms. Elaine Hughes
Collections Manager
928-774-5211 ext. 228; ehughes@mna.mus.az.us

Project Title: "Preservation of MNA Hopi and Southwestern Basket and Textile Collections in Delta Design Cabinets While Ensuring Cultural Access"
The Museum of Northern Arizona will purchase new cabinets to improve storage conditions for its Hopi and Southwest basket and textile collection. The collection will then be rehoused in the new Collections Center. The museum will use the project to convey the importance of preservation to its public audience. The museum's mission is to highlight the diversity and beauty of the Colorado Plateau and serve as a regional center for Native American artifacts and natural history specimens.

California

Oakland Museum of California - Oakland, CA
Award Amount: $100,000

Contact: Mr. John Burke
Chief Conservator
510-238-3806; jb@museumca.org

Project Title: "Costume Collection Re-housing and Preservation"
The Oakland Museum of California will use its grant to conserve its costume and textile collection and rehouse it in a new storage facility. The museum will purchase equipment and hire a consultant to properly advise on handling procedures. These objects have been housed in unstable storage for at least 25 years and their improved care will make them more accessible to museum staff and the public.

Crocker Art Museum - Sacramento, CA
Award Amount: $150,000

Contact: Mr. Scott Shields
Chief Curator
916-264-5313; sshields@cityofsacramento.org

Project Title: "Environmental Improvement Project for Paintings Collection Storage"
The Crocker Art Museum will purchase and install new storage racks for its painting collection. The project will also include preparing the paintings for storage in a new climate-controlled facility. The museum, founded by gold-rush settlers Judge Erwin Bryant and Margaret Rhodes Crocker, was the first public art museum west of the Mississippi River. Its collection includes European paintings from the 16th-19th centuries, and American paintings, including Californian works from the gold rush to the present.

Colorado

Denver Art Museum - Denver, CO
Award Amount: $150,000

Contact: Mr. Carl Patterson
Director of Conservation
720-865-5029; cpatterson@denverartmuseum.org

Project Title: "Denver Art Museum's Rehousing Project to Safely store 6,812 objects"
The Denver Art Museum will purchase new storage equipment and hire a Conservation Project Assistant. These measures are part of a larger project to renovate one of three storage facilities and rehouse a large portion of the museum's collection. Much of the new storage will house American and European paintings currently stored in bins. New storage will open up more gallery space, allowing more of the collection to be displayed to the general public.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science - Denver, CO
Award Amount: $149,827

Contact: Ms. Jude Southward
Conservation Department Conservator/Chair
303-370-6496; jude.southward@dmns.org

Project Title: "Latin American Costumes- DMNS Conservation Project"
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science will improve the environmental conditions of its collection of Latin American costumes by purchasing new museum and archival-standard storage cabinets. Proper storage of these items will create new opportunities for research and public outreach. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science is the leading resource for informal science education and covers the fields of anthropology, geology, health science, paleontology, space science, and zoology.

La Plata County Historical Society - Durango, CO
Award Amount: $150,000

Contact: Ms. Janet Postler
Curator of Collections
970-259-2402; animasmuseum@frontier.net

Project Title: "Animas Museum Collections Rehousing and Move Project"
The Animas Museum of the La Plata County Historical Society will rehouse, pack, and move its permanent collection to a newly constructed climate and pest-controlled facility. The project will also fund staff training and the installation of new storage furniture. Completion of the project will improve the condition and longevity of the collection, increasing access for research, programmatic, and conservation needs. The museum's collection interprets the history of the San Juan Basin region, with a particular focus on Durango and La Plata County.

Colorado State University - Fort Collins, CO
Award Amount: $95,958

Contact: Miss Linda Carlson
Collections Curator and Lecturer
907-491-1983; linda.carlson@colostate.edu

Project Title: "Rehousing Collection to University Center for the Arts"
The University Center for the Arts at Colorado State University will use its grant to purchase new storage cabinets for its collection of historic costumes, textiles, and interior artifacts. The collection, representing a wide variety of regional, national and international material culture, will be moved to a new state-of-the-art facility. The new equipment will increase the level of care and improve access to the collection for curators and scholars.

Connecticut

New London County Historical Society - New London, CT
Award Amount: $8,900

Contact: Mr. Edward Baker
Education
860-443-1209; edward@newlondonhistory.org

Project Title: "New London Historical Society Library Conservation Support"
The New London County Historical Society will purchase new storage furniture, proper archival storage materials, and environmental control and monitoring devices for part of the archival collection. Founded in 1870, the Society is the oldest historical society in eastern Connecticut and one of the oldest regional historical societies in the country. Its collection includes valuable primary sources including rare books, newspapers, and a pre-Revolutionary manuscript collection. The archives are used as a research facility and are a valuable resource for scholars, students, and the general public.

Georgia

High Museum of Art - Atlanta, GA
Award Amount: $70,730

Contact: Ms. Frances Francis
Registrar
404-733-4480; frances.francis@woodruffcenter.org

Project Title: "Conservation Survey for Modern and Contemporary Art"
The High Museum of Art in Atlanta will use its grant to conduct a detailed conservation survey of more than 500 modern contemporary paintings, sculptures, and installations. The survey will support the museum's long-range preservation program and assess works potentially affected by a relocation and reinstallation in recent years. The High Museum, the largest visual arts institution in the Southeast, has seen increasing public visitation and acquisition in recent years and wishes to ensure the integrity of its valuable collection for visitors and scholars alike.

Hawaii

Bishop Museum - Honolulu, HI
Award Amount: $48,874

Contact: Ms. Valerie Free
Museum Conservator
808-847-8208; vfree@bishopmuseum.org

Project Title: "ConservationTreatment of Five Hawaiian Mahiole (feathered helmets) and Two Ki'i Hulu Manu (feathered images)"
The Bishop Museum will hire a conservator to repair and stabilize five Hawaiian feathered helmets (mahiole), and two feathered images (ki'i hulu manu) that have become increasingly fragile and cannot be handled, studied, or displayed in their current condition. The mahiole and ki'i hulu manu were symbols of rank, status, and spiritual authority for ali'i (chiefly individuals). These objects are uniquely Hawaiian. Their proper restoration furthers the museum's objective to tell the cultural and natural history of the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific.

Illinois

Midway Village and Museum Center - Rockford, IL
Award Amount: $35,353

Contact: Miss Laura Bachelder
Executive Director
815-397-9112 ext. 108; laura@midwayvillage.com

Project Title: "Installation of Compact Shelving in New Storage Room"
The Midway Village and Museum Center will purchase and install new shelving units to furnish its storage room. The portion of the collection impacted includes furniture, photographs, and baskets. Founded in 1968, the purpose of the Midway Village and Museum is to collect, preserve, and interpret the history of the Rockford area. Proper housing of its collection will allow its valuable artifacts to be more effectively utilized by the museum and increasingly accessible to the public.

Maine

L. C. Bates Museum - Hinckley, ME
Award Amount: $13,015

Contact: Ms. Deborah Staber
Director/Curator
207-238-4250; lcbates@gwh.org

Project Title: "Preservation Covers for Historic Mammal Mounts in Hubbard Hall"
The L.C. Bates Museum of the Good Will-Hinckley Homes will use its grant to complete the final phase of its Mammal Treatment Project by cleaning and conserving historic and scientific taxidermy mounts. The project will complete the preservation of Hubbard Hall, the earliest existing mammal gallery in Maine. The gallery is significant to the museum's historic interior architecture and is used daily for educational tours. The museum will also teach the public about the importance of conservation by filming a workshop for public television.

Maryland

National Aquarium in Baltimore - Baltimore, MD
Award Amount: $150,000

Contact: Mr. Andrew Aiken
410-576-1502; aaiken@aqua.org

Project Title: "Atlantic Coral Reef Exhibit Foam Fractionao Retrofit Project"
The National Aquarium in Baltimore will upgrade the Life Support System of its Atlantic Coral Reef exhibit by adding foam fractonators to the existing sand filtration, ozone disinfection, and biofiltration systems. Foam fractonators remove dissolved waste the other systems are not able to address, a task only accomplished previously with regular replacement of the 360,000 gallons of water. These wastes decrease water quality and jeopardize the health and longevity of the hundreds of animals living in the reef. The foam fractonators will provide a cleaner, safer, and more stable environment.

Baltimore Museum of Art - Baltimore, MD
Award Amount: $112,500

Contact: Mr. Thomas Primeau
Director of Conservation
443-573-1752; tprimeau@artbma.org

Project Title: "African, Ancient American, Native American, and Oceanic art vault improvement"
The Baltimore Museum of Art will expand and improve its storage area in order to adequately house its growing collection of art of Africa, Ancient America, Native America, and Oceania. Due to the rapid growth of these collections, the current storage facility is no longer big enough to accommodate these objects. A conservation technician will be hired to facilitate the project. Increased storage space will allow the staff to more frequently rotate the objects on view and will increase access for scholars.

Massachusetts

New England Aquarium - Boston, MA
Award Amount: $42,120

Contact: Mr. John Dayton
Director, Animal Husbandry
671-973-5289; jdayton@neaq.org

Project Title: "New England Chilled Water Exhibit Environmental Improvements"
The New England Aquarium will replace outdated heat exchangers and install flowmeters and temperature gauges in its cold-water tanks, allowing the aquarium to have full control of cold-water exhibits. The completion of the project will reduce the staff time for monitoring the tanks and make them more energy-efficient, and better protect the live animal collection from over-warmed tanks.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - Boston, MA
Award Amount: $50,000

Contact: Mr. Gianfranco Pocobene
Head of Conservation
617-278-5615; gpocobene@isgm.org

Project Title: "Japanese Screens"
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will treat three Japanese screens that are important examples of 18th and 19th century Japanese art. The screens cannot be displayed or easily handled in their current condition. Following treatment, these screens will be displayed in the museum's new light-sensitive gallery. Open since 1903, the museum is best known for its collection of Renaissance and 19th-century American art, but Asian art has become an increasingly important part of the collection.

Stonehill Industrial History Center - Easton, MA
Award Amount: $56,288

Contact: Dr. Gregory Galer
Curator
508-565-1403; ggaler@stonehill.edu

Project Title: "Conservation Treatment of the Ames Shovel Collection"
The Stonehill Industrial History Center will use its grant for conservation treatment of its unique, historic shovel collection that includes 755 artifacts from the O. Ames Company. The Ames Company was founded in 1774 and "made the tools that built America." The collection serves exhibition, educational, and research purposes.

Michigan

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI
Award Amount: $160,000

Contact: Mrs. Suzanne Davis

734-764-9304; davissl@umich.edu

Project Title: "Conservation of a Large-Scale Watercolor Series"
The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology of the University of Michigan will conserve and remount 22 large-scale watercolors painted by Italian artist Maria Barosso in 1925-27. The museum's first director commissioned the paintings that depict a famous fresco cycle at the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii. The conservation project will provide greater access to the works for scholars, students, and the public and will include an educational component for the public on the importance of collections care and conservation issues.

Detroit Institute of Arts - Detroit, MI
Award Amount: $70,480

Contact: Barbara Heller
Chief Conservator
313-833-7834; bheller@dia.org

Project Title: "Collections Storage Ugrade and Rehousing"
The Detroit Institute of Art will purchase storage units and stabilize and rehouse part of its collection to a renovated, climate-controlled facility. Currently, significant portions of the collection are in unsuitable storage areas and are difficult to access. The collections to be rehoused will include African, Egyptian, European, Islamic, and Native American textiles, and European decorative arts and furniture.

Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI
Award Amount: $78,486

Contact: Ms. Laura Abraczinskas
Collections Manager
517-355-1290; abraczi1@msu.edu

Project Title: "Support for Rehousing the MSU Museum Mammal Collection (Phase 2)"
The Michigan State University Museum will purchase new archival material and museum-standard cabinetry to rehouse its collection of mammal specimens. The specimens being rehoused are rare, endangered, or threatened species and are vulnerable to environmental elements and pests in their current storage. The museum will share the project with its public audience via the museum newsletter, group tours, public events, and museum benefit events. The Michigan State University Museum is the state's only public museum of natural history and culture.

Michigan Historical Museum - Lansing, MI
Award Amount: $85,937

Contact: Mr. Phillip Kwiatkowski
Director, Museum Division
517-373-0523; kwiatkowskip@michigan.gov

Project Title: "Protecting Our States's Treasures: Rehousing Our Weapons and Fine Arts Collection"
The Michigan Historical Museum will use its grant to hire a consultant to advise staff on how to best rehouse its unique weapons and fine arts collections, and then purchase cabinets to store the collections. The weapons collection includes Michigan-made rifles from the mid-19th century and swords and muskets dating to the Civil War. The fine arts collection includes photographs and a variety of framed and unframed paintings.

Missouri

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - Kansas City, MO
Award Amount: $107,310

Contact: Ms. Kathleen Garland
Conservator, Objects
816-751-1253; kgarland@nelson-atkins.org

Project Title: "Conservation and reinstallation of the hall from the Robert Hooper House, ca 1754"
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art will use its grant to restore a hall from the Robert Hooper House (ca. 1754) to its original pre-Revolutionary interior. When completed, the room will be the only American period room in the museum's newly renovated American art galleries and one of the best surviving pre-Revolutionary interiors in the United States. Lieutenant-General Thomas Gage, the British Commander-in-Chief, used Hooper's home as headquarters before the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775.

New York

Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences - Brooklyn, NY
Award Amount: $79,242

Contact: Kenneth Moser
Vice Director of Collections
718-501-6277; ken.moser@brooklynmuseum.org

Project Title: "Phase 1 of the Brooklyn Museum's Art Storage Master Plan"
The Brooklyn Museum will complete phase one of an Art Storage Master Plan. The project will consolidate existing storage areas, eliminate storage shortages, create a textile center and viewing area, and transport the collection into these newly reorganized units for collections of textiles and Asian screens. The textiles, which will be moved together into a single textile center, are from Asia, North and South America, and Oceania.

Frick Collection - New York, NY
Award Amount: $55,625

Contact: Mr. Joseph Godla
Conservator
212-547-6864; godla@frick.org

Project Title: "Detailed Conserrvation Survey - Picture Frames"
The Frick Collection will conduct a detailed conservation survey of its collection of approximately 158 historic carved and gilded picture frames spanning the 14th-20th centuries. The survey will help determine treatment priorities for the frames and document their style and period. The survey will also create a searchable database accessible to scholars, curators, and the public. The Frick intends to interpret the information for educational programming for both the academic community and the general public.

Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York, NY
Award Amount: $150,000

Contact: Mr. Lawrence Becker
Conservator
212-396-5454; lawrence.becker@metmuseum.org

Project Title: "Nishapur Conservation project"
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will conserve the highest priority ceramic, glass, and stucco objects from excavations at the Iranian city of Nishapur, perhaps the most important assemblage of such archaeological materials in the United States. The pieces, created between the 9th and 13th centuries BCE and excavated between 1935-1940, are in fragile condition. After conservation, they will be installed in the new Islamic Art Galleries and Study Center, scheduled to open in 2011.

North Carolina

Lees-McRae College - Banner Elk, NC
Award Amount: $100,000

Contact: Mrs. Nina Fischesser
Director, Blue Ridge Wildlife Institute
828-898-2568; fischessern@Imc,edu

Project Title: "Environmental Improvements of the Blue Wildlife Insisitute"
The Lees-McRae College Blue Ridge Wildlife Institute will purchase and install digital monitoring equipment for the living animals undergoing rehabilitation and possible reintroduction to the wild. This equipment will reduce direct staff contact with the animals; it will also allow recording of animal behavior to be used for education of a diverse audience of rehabilitation students, practitioners, wildlife veterinarians, and the general public about the rehabilitation process.

Ackland Art Museum - Chapel Hill, NC
Award Amount: $26,968

Contact: Ms. Evelyn Koehnline
Conservator
919-843-3680; koehnlin@email.unc.edu

Project Title: "Asian Screens And Scolls: Detailed Conservation Survey"
The Ackland Art Museum, part of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, will conduct a five-day, on-site detailed conservation survey of 75 Asian art works from its collection. The items to be surveyed are a collection of scrolls and folding screens that are currently in fragile condition. The project will also include a training seminar by the conservators for Ackland staff and other museum and library professionals throughout North Carolina.

Ohio

Cincinnati Art Museum - Cincinnati, OH
Award Amount: $25,000

Contact: Mr. Stephen Bonadies
Chief Conservator
513-639-2905; stephenb@cincyart.org

Project Title: "Structural Conservation of Atman by Mark di Suvero"
The Cincinnati Art Museum will use its grant to treat its most prominent work of art, a 34-foot outdoor painted steel sculpture. The sculpture, Atman, was created by Mark di Suvero in 1978-79 and acquired by the museum in 1985. The project will require disassembling, repairing, and replacing parts of the sculpture, followed by necessary repainting and reassembling. The Cincinnati Art Museum houses more than 60,000 objects and is the largest art museum in Ohio.

Pennsylvania

Barnes Foundation - Merion, PA
Award Amount: $45,000

Contact: Ms. Barbara Buckley
Chief Conservator
610-667-0290 ext. 1119; bbuckley@barnesfoundation.org

Project Title: "Conservation treatment for 22 works on paper"
The Barnes Foundation will conserve and treat 22 works of art on paper, many of which suffer from mold damage or are extremely fragile. The works represent pieces by well-known artists such as Pablo Picasso and Paul Cézanne as well as two illuminated medieval manuscripts. The project will not only conserve these important works of art, but will prepare this part of the collection for relocation to the Barnes Foundation's new facility in Center City Philadelphia.

Atwater Kent Museum - Philadelphia, PA
Award Amount: $132,942

Contact: Ms. Kristen Froehlich
Curator
215-685-4807; kristen.froehlich@atwaterkentmuseum.org

Project Title: "Environmental Improvements to the third floor of the Atwater Kent Museum"
The Atwater Kent Museum will use its grant to help fund a multi-phase project to create and outfit a climate-controlled space for on-site storage of prints, photographs, and paper ephemera. The project will furnish an exhibition preparatory area, transport materials to an off-site storage facility during construction, and rehouse them in the new facility. The project, when complete, will improve the long-term preservation of nearly half of the museum's material culture collection, which reflects the history of Philadelphia.

Chester County Historical Society - West Chester, PA
Award Amount: $25,025

Contact: Ellen Endslow
Director of Collections/Curator
610-692-4800; eendslow@chestercohistorical.org

Project Title: "Painting Conservation Survey"
The Chester County Historical Society will engage a professional conservator to do a detailed conservation survey of the its collection of 350 paintings reflecting 250 years of Chester County people and places. The survey also provides the opportunity to digitize and catalog the collection, improving access to the paintings for the public and researchers. The project continues the Historical Society's ongoing conservation program.

Rhode Island

Preservation Society of Newport County - Newport, RI
Award Amount: $45,000

Contact: Mr. Charles Moore
401-846-0783; cjmoore@newportmansions.org

Project Title: "Climate Assessment for PSNC"
The Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island's largest cultural institution, will conduct an environmental survey of its ten historic houses. These important homes, subject year after year to the harsh conditions of the Northeast coastline, will be individually assessed to determine how to make the sites safe for collections but still comfortable for the visiting public. The 23 buildings and 80 acres are open to the public for tours and collectively tell the story of Newport from Colonial times through the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.

Vermont

Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium - St. Johnsbury, VT
Award Amount: $11,799

Contact: Mary Beth Prondzinski
802-748-2372 ext. 110; mprondzinski@fairbanksmuseum.org

The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium, the largest museum of natural history in the upper Northeast, will conduct a detailed conservation survey on the museum's insect collection, mostly butterflies, moths, and beetles. The grant will also help fund educational initiatives including a regional workshop for museum professionals and private collectors and a public program explaining the legacy of the collection. The survey, along with its educational components, will enhance both professional and public understanding of the fragile insect collection.

Wisconsin

Outagamie County Historical Society - Appleton, WI
Award Amount: $34,603

Contact: Mr. Matthew Carpenter
Deputy Director/Curator of Collections
920-735-9370 ext. 113; matt@foxvalleyhistory.org

Project Title: "Collection Storage Improvement Project"
The Outagamie County Historical Society will purchase conservation boxes, mounting materials, and new drawers for current cabinets. The museum will rehouse much of the collection, rearranging objects in the new drawers to maximize storage capacity, and rehouse collections that have been stored offsite. The History Museum and the Castle has a collections that reflects the history of Fox River Valley and Outagamie County dating back to the 1840's.